Process of making artificial brick or stone.



Patented November 15, 1904.

LOUIS F. KIVIATKOWSKI, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PROCESS OF MAKING ARTIFICIAL BRICK OR STONE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 7 75,222, datedNovember 15, 1904. Application filed December 29, 1908. Serial No.186.960 kNo model.

Be it known that I, LoUIs F. KwIA'rKowsKI, a citizen of the UnitedStates. residing at New York, borough of Manhattan, in the county andState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inProcesses of Making Artificial Brick or Stone, of which the following isa specification.

My invention relates to an improved process of making bricks, artificialstone, and similar products from a mixture which includes sand orequivalent silicious material and lime, and more particularly to thatpart of the process relating to the admixture of the lime and sand.

The principal objects of the invention are to provide a process whichmay be practiced with great economy and which will result in a productof better quality than is now obtained by the working of such processesfor like purposes of which I have knowledge.

To this end the invention consists, essentially, of the process to behereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In working the process constituting my invention the whole of the limeintended to be used for a predetermined quantity or batch of theadmixture is in its unslaked and commercial condition placed in asuitable grinding-mill, together with a part of the whole (mantity ofsand to be used in the predetermined quantity or batch of the admixture.The sand is used in its natural state without first treating the same toremove the moisture therefrom. By preference about one-third of thewhole quantity of sand is placed in the grinder with the lime; but theparticular proportion may be varied within certain limits. Theparticular type of grinding-machine is unimportant, any of thewell-known constructions of cylindrical serving the purpose, as aball-grinder, tube-mill, or pebble-mill. In the treatment which theingredients undergo in this step of the process the batch, the lime, andthe sand are thoroughly pulverized and incorporated with each other.During this operation of grinding and mixing a portion 1 of the lime ishydrated or slaked by the moisture of the same, which process isaccompanied by a rise in temperature of the mass,

and thus the whole of the moisture which was originally in the sandcombines with a portion of the lime, so that when the operation ofmixing is completed the whole of the mixture is in a dry pulverized formhaving a greater volume than the original. By this means not only amixture of even and uniform composition is obtained by expending aminimum of power and apparatus, but also all pebbles and coarse materialcontained in the sand are ground down to an even lineness, savingtherewith the labor of pulverizing the lime, as also the pnlvcrizing orscreening of the sand in special machines. The admixture thus obtainedis then discharged into a mixing-machine, together with the remainingsand of the predetermined quantity or batch, and the whole thoroughlyincorporated. During this operation sutlicient moisture is added, by asprinkler or otherwise, to augment the action of the moisture in theadded sand, so as to slake or hydrate the remainder of the lime whichwas not so treated in the first step of the process. The mixing iscontinued in this apparatus, and the water is added uniformly and isevenly distributed throughout the mass, and if the operation is properlyconducted, avoiding an excess of water beyond that which is chemicallynecessary for the hydration of the lime, the resulting mixture will beagain of a dry and pulverized form. From this second mixing-machine themass is conveyed or distributed into one or a series of hoppers,arranged either above the presses used for molding the mixture intobricks or other articles or in bins constructed on the floor. Thismixture is allowed to stand until a complete hydration of the whole limehas been effected, the exact time being determined by the condition andappearance of the mass. For this purpose each hopper is divided into twocompartments, one of which is full one day and allowed to remain overnight for use in the process the following day, while the othercompartment is being used to receive the mass intended to be used thenext day. This mixture after having remained in the hopper as described,is then fed into the presses, which may be of any usual construction,and then is molded by mechanicalpressure into bricks or any otherarticles of the desired shape and size. In order to be enabled to moldthe mixture into bricks or other articles, a sufficient quantity ofWater must be added to make the mixture plastic, which is done by addingthe water required for this purpose and through sprays or jets supplyingWater into the conveyer, which conveyer must keep the mass or mixtureagitated in order that the moisture may be uniformly distributed. Afterthe molded bricks or other articles leave the press they will be foundhard enough to be piled or stacked on trucks or carriages of suitableconstruction and Without the use of any preliminary drying process.These trucks or carriages are placed in steaming-chambers of suitablesize and construction, where they are subjected to the action of steamunder pressure of one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five or morepounds for a period ranging from six to ten hours, according tocircumstances. Through the action of the steam insoluble calciumsilicates are formed, and as a consequence induration and hardening ofthe material so treated results.

If desired, the material after being molded into blocks may be placedinto an' inclosed chamber. Alkali salts are placed in exposed panswithin said chamber and steam-conducting pipes arranged in the same andprovided with a series of discharge-openings Which direct the steamissuing from the pipe upon the salts. superheated steam under a pressureof 125 or more is then admitted to the chamber. The steam in passingover and through the alkali salts becomes impregnated with the latterand acts as a medium to carry the same into the molded blocks When theindurating action takes place.

In the manufacture of artificial stone and the like under my process notonly is the usual artificial drying of the sand and pulverizing andslaking of the lime before intermixing the tWo elements avoided, but adenser admixture from which the products are molded results than hashitherto been obtained. This is due in a large measure to the fact thatthe interstices between the large grains of sand or the sand Which islast added are filled by the particles of sand resulting from thepulverization of the sand first treated, so that a very dense product isobtainable.

I claim- 1. The process of producing artificial stone or brick from acomposition including lime and sand consisting in simultaneouslyincorporating and pulverizing the entire quantity of unslaked lime andpart of the sand in its natural moist state, whereby the lime ispartially hydrated and the moisture in the sand thereby absorbed and theingredients thoroughly ground and intermixed, thereafter adding theremaining quantity of sand in its natural state together with sufficientmoisture to complete the hydration of the lime, intermixing theingredients, then molding said mixture, and thereafter subjecting sameto the action of superheated salts-impregnated steam under pressure,substantially as described.

2. The process of producing artificial stone or brick from a compositionincluding lime and sand, consisting in simultaneously incorporating andpulverizing the entire quantity of coarse granular unslaked lime andpart of the sand in its natural Wet state and thereby partiallyhydrating the lime, adding and mixing additional granular sand,completing the hydration of the lime, molding said mixture, andthereafter indurating same by the action of superheatedsalts-impregnated steam under pressure, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in the presence of twoWitnesses.

LOUIS F. Kl/VIATKOWSKI. WVitnesses:

CHARLES SIMMONS, WVILLIAM R. BRONK.

